Early or late seating for TP?

[ms_shell]

On our previous 2 cruises, hubby and I have had late dinner seating. It was fine, as we are used to dining later at home, but with all the rich foods, we found ourselves overstuffed and tired as soon as dinner was over, and usually retired to our cabin shortly after dining. We also had a lot of time to kill, between returning to the ship and the late dinner seating.

Our next cruise is on the Tahitian Princess, August 2, and we are considering booking early seating. Our hope is that if we eat earlier, we won't be so hungry and might not overeat quite so much, and may still have some energy left for a bit of the evening entertainment. Our hesitation is based in our notion that early seating is popular with the families with children and geriatric crowd, and we'd prefer to hang out with those who we have more in common with--(mid 40's, children at Grandma's)

Any advice or preference from those that have sailed the TP will be appreciated.

[rberne1]

Hi -

 

I vote for the early seating. When I cruised the TP, we had it and found NO children (only 3 on-board). We found that with early seating, you still have plenty of time to get back from port, without feeling rushed. That was our concern at the time. Plenty of time to shower and have a nice drink on the balcony prior to going down to the dining room. I'm with you in that with early dinner, one tends not to have the "oh, I'm so full" feeling, and you do have energy for the evening entertainment. ;) This dining time worked for us anyway.

 

Happy Cruzin' :D

[czarinahil]

My husband and I are taking this cruise next week (can't wait!!!) and although we have always had late seating on previous cruises we will be in the early seating for this one. To be honest, we originally were placed in the early seating because the late one was all full; but after reading what past cruisers had to say on this subject I was glad early was the seting we got. On a cruise where the ports are very outdoors intensive and you will be exhausted at the end of the day, it seems only logical to have the early seating so you can enjoy your dinner without falling into your soup and then even having some energy for other evening activities.

 

We'll let you know how this works out after we return!

 

Hilary

[no1dragn]

I too vote for the early sitting. Gives dinner time to settle before bed!

[laurieb]

I vote for late. our sunset cruise on BoraBora didn't have us back to the ship until late way after 1st seating started. On Raitea, there is also a sunset cruise that would get you back late. We snorkeled at every island and appreciated having time to rest up before dinner and the evening.

[ms_shell]

That's a good point laurie...We had thought we might do the sunset cruise, but since that first night in Bora is our 25th anniversary, perhaps that would be a good night to schedule a late dinner in Sabatini's or Sterlings, and we can still do the sunset cruise,right? or would we be too late for dinner altogether?

 

We plan to scuba and snorkle a lot too, but I'm the kind of person that becomes a zombie if I nap late in the day. Better to push on till the second wind kicks in.

 

;)

[laurieb]

I think that a specialty restaurant is a good idea. You will certainly be back in time

[NEW YORK LADY2]

We had both late seating (first trip on TP) and early (2nd trip). For our third trip we are doing late seating. I just find it more relaxing to get back from a shore excursion, grab a drink and maybe a snack from the buffet, gives us time to take a little nap before showing and getting ready for dinner. Then, after the nap, we are refreshed and ready to go.

 

Jackie

[Toto2Kansas]

I also vote for late seating. There is not much going on around the ship in the evening and late seating gives you time to relax after you get back after a long day on shore so you aren't rushing around.

Definitely LATE!

[seafish]

Agree with the late seating - we have for 2/11/05 TP cruise. However - it really is whatever works best for you. We did late last TP cruise with the idea of full days of port intensive activities, getting back to the ship later & time to relax before getting ready for dinner. Worked out well for us - were able to see shows, check out the casino, etc., after dinner. IMO - the TP cruise is more for the ports than for the ship board activities which are understandably few on TP. Since Princess has added more "sea-days" to this itinerary - either early/late seating would work well for those non-port days. SeaFish

[PrincessAddict]

WE did late on the TP this past December and I agree with so much to do the 8:15pm seating was just right...not right for the waiste size that keeps growing, but allowed us to enjoy a full day and not be rushed to worry about making it to the Dinning Room!

[maygoddess]

I guess there are two ways to look at this..I am booked for Sept...our 1st cruise ever..so I have no idea what it will be like. I originally had booked for late seating thinking that we would like more time to getback from excursions before dinner...but thinking about it..I don't think that we would want to have to be digesting our dinners that late in the evening before going to bed..and then having to get up for early excursions out.

 

I think I would rather get our food out of the way..with time for seeing the entertainment, visiting the casino or taking an after dinner walk to help digest the food a bit more. Other than a possible sunset cruise, most of the excursions we are booking seem to end around 4ish..dinner at 6 seems like plenty of time.

 

We'll see...everyone is different but dinner at 8pm seems late to me..especially with having to get up early for excursions..